Dana White stays adamant Energy Slap will surpass UFC

LAS VEGAS – The Energy Slap promotion championed by UFC CEO Dana White acquired a giant enhance this previous Friday.

When former UFC fighter Paige VanZant made her slap combating debut in Las Vegas, she grew to become arguably the most well-liked social media determine to compete within the promotion. VanZant landed the cleaner photographs over three rounds and received a unanimous choice over Christine Wolmarans by a trio of 30-25 scores at Fontainebleau Resort & On line casino.

VanZant’s reputation on OnlyFans, in addition to different social media platforms, as effectively fights for BKFC, made her a celeb slapper of types, and White thinks it’s another rung on the ladder to make Energy Slap doubtlessly greater than the UFC over time, he mentioned.

“I mentioned it – return. A few of you had been there and heard me within the early days,” White mentioned after Energy Slap 8. “I mentioned, ‘This would be the greatest sport on this planet. This will likely be greater than the UFC. This will likely be greater than the UFC.’ Now you may keep in mind I mentioned that, all people will likely be like, ‘Oh, he’s a f*cking nut,’ and all that sh*t. After which I’ll see you in just a few years and we’ll discuss once more.

“That is a kind of occasions – it’s just like the UFC once more. Once we placed on a reside occasion, no person leaves a UFC reside occasion and goes, ‘Yeah, I don’t ever wish to see one in all these once more.’ That’s the identical factor with the Energy Slap. It continues to develop. This was our eighth occasion. We’ve solely performed eight occasions. And should you take a look at the success of this factor and simply eight reveals, we are going to get higher each time we do it. The athletes will get higher. There will likely be those who come that proceed to attract and other people wish to see Slap. It’s all simply an enormous work in progress. It would simply get higher each time we do it.”

White thinks somebody like VanZant, who has north of three million Instagram followers, might help increase the bar, both by attendance or competitors. Since she left the UFC, VanZant has been identified for her reputation as a social media influencer as a lot as her fight sports activities pursuits, if no more, and he or she has talked brazenly about making extra money in 24 hours on OnlyFans than she did when she was within the UFC.

White is banking on social media to attract new followers, not conventional media.

“It’s like all of the slap fighters vs. the world,” White mentioned. “Everyone’s speaking sh*t on the web and f*cking writing sh*tty tales and all that stuff. I inform these guys, ‘F*cking embrace it. It’s lovely. It’s an incredible factor. You recognize what you don’t need? The fellows who write no f*cking tales and don’t say something about it.’ We’re constructing this sport a very completely different approach, and it’s not constructed by the media. We’re not constructing this sport by media. That is the way forward for how sports activities are going to be constructed, and I’m exhibiting the entire f*cking world the way it’s performed.

“Everyone that you simply usher in, particularly any individual that already has a sure stage of fame and a sure stage of followers, you appeal to new individuals to it. There’s little doubt about it. Tonight in that room, probably the most highly effective influencers on this planet are in that room each time we placed on an occasion. These children create content material for a dwelling. That’s what they do, and nothing goes extra viral, irrespective of who you’re, what number of followers you have got (than Energy Slap).”